40 résultats pour "ancestor"

• ancestor worship

• Shang Dynasty - History.

  The dynastic ancestors belonged to an elaborate religious pantheon that also included various nature powers and the Shang high god, Di. The higher powers were lessconcerned with the well-being of Shang society than the ancestors were. Di, whose wishes were often hard to determine, could even cause the Shang harm. The naturepowers could occasionally influence the wind, rain, and harvests, but only Di could actually order the weather. For an agricultural society such as the Shang, this wasperhaps...

• Human Evolution.

  Strepsirhines are the most primitive types of living primates. The last common ancestors of strepsirhines and other mammals—creatures similar to tree shrews andclassified as Plesiadapiformes—evolved at least 65 million years ago. The earliest primates evolved by about 55 million years ago, and fossil species similar to lemursevolved during the Eocene Epoch (about 55 million to 38 million years ago). Strepsirhines share all of the basic characteristics of primates, although their brains are notpa...

• Human Evolution - biology.

  classified as Plesiadapiformes—evolved at least 65 million years ago. The earliest primates evolved by about 55 million years ago, and fossil species similar to lemursevolved during the Eocene Epoch (about 55 million to 38 million years ago). Strepsirhines share all of the basic characteristics of primates, although their brains are notparticularly large or complex and they have a more elaborate and sensitive olfactory system (sense of smell) than do other primates. B Haplorhines B1 Tarsiers T...

• Ancient Rome .

  attributed to Numa, including the selection of virgins to be priestesses of the goddess Vesta. He also established a calendar to differentiate between normal workingdays and those festival days sacred to the gods on which no state business was allowed. His peaceful reign lasted from 715 to 673 BC. Under Tullus Hostilius (672–641 BC) the Romans waged an aggressive foreign policy and began to expand their lands by the conquest of nearby cities like Alba Longa. When the warlike King Hostilius co...

• Ancient Rome - USA History.

  attributed to Numa, including the selection of virgins to be priestesses of the goddess Vesta. He also established a calendar to differentiate between normal workingdays and those festival days sacred to the gods on which no state business was allowed. His peaceful reign lasted from 715 to 673 BC. Under Tullus Hostilius (672–641 BC) the Romans waged an aggressive foreign policy and began to expand their lands by the conquest of nearby cities like Alba Longa. When the warlike King Hostilius co...

• Archaeology.

  Prehistoric archaeology is practiced by archaeologists known as prehistorians and deals with ancient cultures that did not have writing of any kind. Prehistory, a term coined by 19th-century French scholars, covers past human life from its origins up to the advent of written records. History—that is, the human past documented insome form of writing—began 5000 years ago in parts of southwestern Asia and as recently as the late 19th century AD in central Africa and parts of the Americas. Becaus...

• Eukaryote - biology.

  The waste is then expelled through a hole in the fused membrane. In complex animals, cells generate wastes such as urea when nutrients are broken down within cells.These wastes are transported by blood to the kidneys. The kidneys process the waste and produce urine, which is removed from the body through the bladder.Undigested food travels through the tubelike intestines and is eliminated through the digestive system. V EVOLUTIONARY ORIGINS Eukaryotes evolved much later than prokaryotes, whose...

• Seal (mammal) - biology.

  remote lakes by swimming thousands of kilometers up rivers from the Arctic Ocean. A few other species such as ringed seals and harbor seals have been found livingyear-round in lakes and rivers near the coasts of Russia, Canada, and Alaska. IV DIET OF SEALS Most seals eat fish and sometimes squid. The leopard seal, an Antarctic species, may have the most diverse diet of all, commonly hunting penguins and other seabirds,smaller seals, as well as fish, squid, krill (small shrimplike crustaceans),...

• Uganda - country.

  Uganda’s population is predominantly rural and is concentrated in the south, particularly in the crescent at the edge of Lake Victoria and in the southwest. Almost allUgandans are black Africans. Foreign residents make up less than 4 percent of the population and come mostly from neighboring states. In 2008 Uganda’s population was estimated at 31,367,972. The estimated growth rate of the population in 2008 was 3.6 percent. The birth rate was 48 per 1,000people and the death rate 12 per 1,000. Th...

• Native Americans of North America.

  addition to smallpox and measles, explorers and colonists brought a host of other diseases: bubonic plague, cholera, typhoid fever, scarlet fever, pleurisy, mumps,diphtheria, pneumonia, whooping cough, malaria, yellow fever, and various sexually transmitted infections. Despite the undisputed devastation wreaked on Indian populations after European contact, native populations showed enormous regional variability in their response todisease exposure. Some peoples survived and, in some cases, even...

• Native Americans of North America - Canadian History.

  addition to smallpox and measles, explorers and colonists brought a host of other diseases: bubonic plague, cholera, typhoid fever, scarlet fever, pleurisy, mumps,diphtheria, pneumonia, whooping cough, malaria, yellow fever, and various sexually transmitted infections. Despite the undisputed devastation wreaked on Indian populations after European contact, native populations showed enormous regional variability in their response todisease exposure. Some peoples survived and, in some cases, even...

• Anthropology.

  humans, such as tools, pottery, and buildings) and human fossils (preserved bones). They also examine past environments to understand how natural forces, such as climate and available food, shaped the development of human culture. Some archaeologists study cultures that existed before the development of writing, a time knownas prehistory . The archaeological study of periods of human evolution up to the first development of agriculture, about 10,000 years ago, is also called paleoanthropology....

• Portraiture I INTRODUCTION Portraiture, visual representation of individual people, distinguished by references to the subject's character, social position, wealth, or profession.

  CaracallaCaracalla is a Roman portrait bust in marble of the emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, probably done circa ad 215. Theson of Septimius Severus, Caracalla (as he was known) was a brutal man whose qualities come through in this piece withits dramatic realism. The bust, which is now in the Louvre, Paris, evidently served as the inspiration for Michelangelo’sbust of Brutus more than one thousand years later.Bridgeman Art Library, London/New York The first representations of identifiable ind...

• Dinosaur - biology.

  The behavior of dinosaurs was governed by their metabolism and by their central nervous system. The dinosaurs’ metabolism—the internal activities that supply thebody’s energy needs—affected their activity level. It is unclear whether dinosaurs were purely endothermic (warm-blooded), like modern mammals, or ectothermic (cold-blooded), like modern reptiles. Endotherms regulate their body temperature internally by means of their metabolism, rather than by using the temperature oftheir surroundin...

• Ghana - country.

  times of depressed cacao prices, Ghana has significantly increased exports of timber to generate needed revenue. In 1988 Ghana initiated a conservation plan called the Forest Resource Management Project. In 1989 Ghana restricted the export of 18 tree species, and in 1994 thecountry banned the export of raw logs. About 4.8 percent (1997) of the country’s land is officially protected, but illegal logging threatens Ghana’s remaining forests. Deforestation, overgrazing, and periodic drought have led...

• Mesoamerica.

  for cooking. In other regions, the earliest ceramics are more sophisticated technically and aesthetically. At around 1800 BC in the Pacific coastal region of Soconusco (in what is now southeastern Chiapas State, Mexico), the earliest pottery was very complex both in forms and decoration. It seems to have had a social function and beenused primarily for ritual feasting. III MAJOR CIVILIZATIONS Over a period of 3000 years, beginning in about 1500 BC, a number of important cultures emerged in M...

• Comparative Anatomy.

  In comparing two species, anatomists have to be careful to differentiate between homologous structures, which are ones that have evolved from a shared ancestor, andanalogous structures, which have developed from different origins. Homologous structures are built on the same underlying plan. A human arm, a bat’s wing, and awhale’s flipper look quite different from the outside, but the bones inside reveal that these limbs all have the same basic structure. Analogous structures, by contrast,often l...

• Confucius

  official to several of the highest positions in the land. Nor does the story end there. By the time of the Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 220), Confucius was celebrated as the ‘uncrowned king' of the state of Lu, and by the fourth century AD, any prefecture wanting to define itself as a political entity was required by imperial decree to erect a temple to Confucius. Gods in China are local cultural heroes who are remembered by history as having contributed meaning and value to the tradition, and of...

• Extinction (biology) - biology.

  III ROLE OF MASS EXTINCTION IN EVOLUTION Historically biologists—most famous among them British naturalist Charles Darwin—assumed that extinction is the natural outcome of competition between newlyevolved, adaptively superior species and their older, more primitive ancestors. These scientists believed that newer, more highly evolved species simply drove less well-adapted species to extinction. That is, historically, extinction was thought to result from evolution. It was also thought that this...

• Religion.

  By the end of the 19th century, scholars were making religion an object of systematic inquiry. Müller’s comparative approach was adopted in many European andJapanese universities, and as a result the common features of world religions (such as gods, prayer, priesthood, and creation myths) were the subjects of sustainedscholarly investigation. In addition, field anthropologists had begun to compile firsthand accounts of the religions of peoples who previously had been dismissed assavages. The stu...

• First Americans.

  bones and artifacts helped 19th-century archaeologists establish the age of ancient human encampments in Europe. Yet, search as they might, American archaeologists found no comparable evidence of a Pleistocene-era human presence. But several sites revealed stone artifacts thatsome scholars believed looked similar to the ancient stone tools found in Europe. On the basis of this similarity, these experts claimed the American artifacts must be asold. By the 1890s, however, other scholars had challe...

• First Americans - Canadian History.

  bones and artifacts helped 19th-century archaeologists establish the age of ancient human encampments in Europe. Yet, search as they might, American archaeologists found no comparable evidence of a Pleistocene-era human presence. But several sites revealed stone artifacts thatsome scholars believed looked similar to the ancient stone tools found in Europe. On the basis of this similarity, these experts claimed the American artifacts must be asold. By the 1890s, however, other scholars had challe...

• Qing Dynasty - History.

  The Manchus also dealt with the problem of Russian expansion into northeastern Asia. In 1689 the Treaty of Nerchinsk was signed by an envoy from the Manchu courtand a Russian representing Peter the Great. The treaty, the first between China and a Western country, established territorial boundaries and defined rules ofcommerce for the two powers. Through the mid-18th century, the Manchus continued to consolidate their power. In 1720 the Qing ruler sent forces to fight the Mongols in Tibet and the...

• Native Americans of Middle and South America.

  A line that snakes across central Mexico near the Tropic of Cancer forms the northern boundary of Mesoamerica; north of this line rainfall sharply declines and theclimate is much drier. The ancient civilizations of Mesoamerica all arose and developed in the area between this line and the Guatemalan highlands far to the south. Richvolcanic soils are found throughout much of the region. A2 People and Languages Mesoamerica was a great melting pot, home to many peoples and interrelated cultures. In...

• Evolution - biology.

  genetic diversity to extinction. Sexual reproduction ensures that the genes in a population are rearranged in each generation, a process termed recombination. Although the combinations of genes inindividuals change with each new generation, the gene frequency, or ratio of different alleles in the entire population, remains relatively constant if no evolutionaryforces act on the population. One such force is the introduction of new genes into the genetic material of the population, or gene pool...

• Prokaryote - biology.

  earliest organisms to evolve, an estimated 3.4 billion to 3.5 billion years ago. The environment of the early Earth lacked oxygen, and cyanobacteria probably usedfermentation (a chemical process performed without the presence of oxygen) to produce the energy molecule adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Cyanobacteria introduced oxygen into the atmosphere through the process of photosynthesis. As the oxygen content in the atmosphere increased over the centuries, bacteria evolved that usedthis oxygen in...

• Roman Mythology I INTRODUCTION Roman Mythology, the religious beliefs and practices of the people of ancient Rome.

  Aeneas and AnchisesAccording to mythology, Aeneas was a Trojan prince. After Troy fell to the Greeks during the Trojan War, Aeneas traveledto Italy and met and married a woman in the kingdom that occupied the region that would one day become Rome.Through this marriage, Aeneas was the direct ancestor of Romulus and Remus, the legendary founders of Rome. In thispainting he is carrying his father, Anchises, on his back while fleeing from Troy. This painting by Lionello Spada is in theLouvre Museum...

• Biodiversity.

  a common molecule, ribonucleic acid (RNA), and most also have deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). These molecules direct the production of proteins—molecules responsiblefor the structure and function of virtually all living cells. This is the evolutionary chain of life. All species are descended from a single common ancestor. From that ancient single-celled microbe, all inherited RNA. As time goesby, species diverge and develop their own peculiar attributes, thus making their own contribution to biodiv...

• Biodiversity - biology.

  a common molecule, ribonucleic acid (RNA), and most also have deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). These molecules direct the production of proteins—molecules responsiblefor the structure and function of virtually all living cells. This is the evolutionary chain of life. All species are descended from a single common ancestor. From that ancient single-celled microbe, all inherited RNA. As time goesby, species diverge and develop their own peculiar attributes, thus making their own contribution to biodiv...

• Invertebrate - biology.

  animals with a five-pointed design. They live in the sea and move with the help of tiny fluid-filled feet—another feature found nowhere else in the animal world. Zoologists recognize several different groups of worms. The phylum known as flatworms contains the simplest animals possessing heads. Nerves and sense organs areconcentrated in the head. Most flatworms are paper-thin and live in a variety of wet or damp habitats, including the digestive systems of other animals. Roundwormsrepresent anot...

• Invertebrate - biology.

  animals with a five-pointed design. They live in the sea and move with the help of tiny fluid-filled feet—another feature found nowhere else in the animal world. Zoologists recognize several different groups of worms. The phylum known as flatworms contains the simplest animals possessing heads. Nerves and sense organs areconcentrated in the head. Most flatworms are paper-thin and live in a variety of wet or damp habitats, including the digestive systems of other animals. Roundwormsrepresent anot...

• Rhinoceros - biology.

  Male and female rhinos have a similar physical appearance, although male rhinos are usually larger than females, with the size difference varying between species. Inthe wild, some rhinos probably live into their late 40s, and they have survived into their 30s in captivity. IV TYPES OF RHINOCEROSES Until recently, mammalogists divided the rhinoceros family into three subfamilies, each with different characteristics. Scientists now believe that living rhinos belong to asingle subfamily, although...

• Han Dynasty - History.

  However, these reforms faced serious opposition. The feudal barons formed an alliance and rebelled against Wang Mang. They were joined by members of the Liufamily, who were descended from Jingdi (Ching-ti), a former Han emperor, and a civil war followed. As the empire fell into disorder, militant secret societies formedarmed bands and attacked villages and towns. Wang Mang had believed that proper institutions would eventually bring peace to China, but in AD 23, an army led by the Liu clan brea...

• Horse - biology.

  Horses reach sexual maturity at about one and a half years. The estrous cycle in the mare—a mature female horse—typically lasts 21 days. During the first five days ofthe cycle, the mare is usually receptive to mating. The estrous cycle stops during winter and resumes in the spring, which is the start of the breeding season. Astallion—a mature male horse—approaching a mare in estrus engages in various courtship rituals. These include uttering nickering sounds and sniffing and licking themare’s ge...

• Zimbabwe - country.

  contamination—especially from the dieldrin and DDT used in tsetse fly control—has significantly affected wildlife and human health. III PEOPLE AND SOCIETY OF ZIMBABWE In 2008 Zimbabwe’s population was estimated to be 12,382,920, giving the country a population density of 32 persons per sq km (83 per sq mi). With a birth rate of27 per 1,000 and a death rate of 22 per 1,000, Zimbabwe’s population growth rate is 0.6 percent. Life expectancy at birth was estimated at 40 years in 2008, downfrom 59...

• North America - Geography.

  D Climate Although North America has considerable climatic variety, five principal climatic regions can be identified. The northern two-thirds of Canada and Alaska, as well as all ofGreenland, have subarctic and arctic climates, in which long, dark, bitterly cold winters alternate with brief, mild summers. Most of the region, which receives relativelylittle precipitation, is covered with snow and ice during much of the year. A second climatic region is made up of the eastern two-thirds of the U...

• Hawaii (state) - geography.

  limestone along the coast. The volcanoes of the Hawaiian Islands are all so-called shield volcanoes, or lava domes. Unlike the volcanoes of Alaska and South America, those of Hawaii were notcreated by very explosive eruptions. Formed mostly by lava flows, they are great rounded mountain masses, rather than steep-sided cones. Mauna Kea, dormant forcenturies, is the highest mountain in the state. It rises to 4,205 m (13,796 ft) above sea level, and its summit is dotted with cinder cones formed by...

• Hawaii (state) - USA History.

  limestone along the coast. The volcanoes of the Hawaiian Islands are all so-called shield volcanoes, or lava domes. Unlike the volcanoes of Alaska and South America, those of Hawaii were notcreated by very explosive eruptions. Formed mostly by lava flows, they are great rounded mountain masses, rather than steep-sided cones. Mauna Kea, dormant forcenturies, is the highest mountain in the state. It rises to 4,205 m (13,796 ft) above sea level, and its summit is dotted with cinder cones formed by...

• China - country.

  North China lies between the Mongolian Steppe on the north and the Yangtze River Basin on the south. It stretches west from the Bo Hai gulf and the Yellow Sea to theeastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau. Administratively, North China includes Beijing and Tianjin municipalities; Shandong and Shanxi provinces; most of Hebei, Henan,and Shaanxi provinces; and portions of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and of Jiangsu, Anhui, and Gansu provinces. Humans have lived in the agriculturally rich region of Nor...